Navin Norling

As you sow so shall you reap, 2009

Found windows, wood, acrylic

14' x 12' x 12'

Recent news has reported the lynch mob mentality of Americans frightened by changing political tides and politician's efforts to reform our nation's health care system. Lynching, as an extrajudicial punishment meted out by mob to punish a perceived wrong, has been used to intimidate and to incite people to choose sides yet the use of such vigilantism has always been about fear and terror on the part of the mob and the victim. In my piece I have chosen to use the lynching tree image to open a dialogue with the viewer. By first allowing access to the image of the tree, then obscuring the tree's image with a white wash (my use of white paint to wipeout or erase whole parts of the tree) the piece juxtaposes the beauty of the image against the terror of lynching, then obscures it in part. I will visit the park throughout the season changing the image each time through the painting or washing of the windows to create the perception of transformation and rehabilitation thus opening the the viewer's mind to the concept of change.
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